Urijah Faber says getting 'dirty' against Renan Barao will play to his advantage at UFC 169

Urijah Faber has been in big fights before – plenty of them. But the late Christmas present that fell in his lap on Monday may be his biggest one yet.

But Faber, who was in nine WEC title fights and already has been in two in the UFC, takes his next title challenge on less than a month’s notice. And while that might not seem ideal, Faber believes he may have Renan Barao right where he wants him.

Barao (31-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) on Monday was named the UFC’s new bantamweight champion, losing the interim tag in front of his title when champ Dominick Cruz (19-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) suffered yet another injury. A torn groin took Cruz out of his title-unification fight against Barao in UFC 169’s main event next month, and Faber (30-6 MMA, 6-2 UFC) got the call to step in for another shot at the Brazilian.

It hasn’t yet been a month since the most recent win for “The California Kid,” who took out Michael McDonald in December for his fourth straight dominant victory. And he believes the quick turnaround for a rematch with Barao, who beat him for the interim title in July 2012, gives him an edge.

“I think it does (work to my advantage),” Faber told MMAjunkie just hours after getting the news he’ll fight for the title. “This last training camp was a terrible one for me. I had 10 or 11 stitches on my forehead, I had eight stitches on my chin, I hurt my neck pretty bad, and had to get it looked at. Throughout this year, I had to take a lot of breaks that were just as long as the break I’ve had before this fight for mildly pushing myself.

“So I feel rested, I feel hungry, and I feel like my skill set’s all there. I just have to go out and perform.”

The fight against Barao will be Faber’s fifth in 11 months – a blistering pace by UFC standards, to be certain. Before tapping McDonald at UFC on FOX 9 in front of his home Sacramento crowd, he beat Yuri Alcantara, and submitted Scott Jorgensen and Ivan Menjivar, for a 4-0 2013.

After the McDonald fight, Faber couldn’t have predicted Cruz would fall out and he’d be the beneficiary. But in the back of his mind was the thought that he could be matched up with the Cruz-Barao winner. That the title shot came quicker than expected is a boon, but it was one he didn’t have to hesitate in accepting when UFC President Dana White called him because of a philosophy that keeps him in fighting shape essentially year-round.

“It was actually Dana (who called me), and he said, ‘Hey, man, here’s the situation,’ and he said Dominick Cruz has ripped his leg apart and wanted to know if I was ready to step in,” Faber said. “I was like, ‘Damn. Ya know what? I’ll do it. Three and a half weeks.’

Faber knows Cruz well, and he knows his injury woes well, too. The two first fought in the WEC in March 2007, when Faber defended his featherweight title by submitting “The Dominator” in 98 seconds with a guillotine choke. Cruz would go on to win the bantamweight title in the WEC, and when Faber dropped to 135 pounds, the rematch was set for Cruz’s first fight in the UFC.

Faber fell short in that rematch. But after getting back on track with a win over Brian Bowles, he and Cruz coached opposite each other on Season 15 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” the first live season of the show. They were expected to meet for Cruz’s belt afterward. But Cruz blew out his knee, leading to the Faber-Barao first meeting. Cruz needed more shelf time and a second surgery months later. In the fall, he finally had a timetable for his return, and the titleunification bout against Barao – which would have been a fight more than two years after his most recent one in October 2011.

Although Faber and Cruz remain bitter rivals with no proverbial love lost, Faber didn’t see the injury coming this time – not that he was shy about stepping in when asked.

“I was surprised, man. I feel for the guy,” he said. “It’s all on the back of him probably pushing himself too hard or something. It sucks for him, but I’m ready to seize the opportunity for sure.”

Faber believes his loss to Barao at UFC 149 was a lot closer than the final judges’ scores indicated. Barao injured Faber’s rib in the first round, and that played a factor, he thinks. Barao won with a pair of 49-46 tallies and a 50-45.

But this time around, Faber thinks he can make it a much different fight than 18 months ago.

“I think he’ll probably try to do the same thing he did last time to me, which slowed the pace down, tit for tat standing, and get a couple more kicks and a couple more punches landed,” he said. “But I’m going to try to make this a lot more intense fight. I hate being in fights that aren’t super exciting, and I’m going to try to make this as exciting as possible and get the finish. … I want to pick the pace up and get in his face. I want to make it a fight that we both have to get a little dirty.

“I think the difference with he and I in our last fight was very small, but I’ve got to make sure this time I move it in my direction so I beat him to the punch, so I make sure to implement my game plan and make sure that I implement my will on him.”

UFC 169 takes place Feb. 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The main card of the UFC’s Super Bowl weekend show airs on pay-per-view and features a co-headlining featherweight title fight between champ Jose Aldo and top contender Ricardo Lamas. FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass carry the prelims.

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